


Need Something Sweeter

by PomegranateTea



Category: Tokyo Mew Mew
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst, Comedy, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25253668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PomegranateTea/pseuds/PomegranateTea
Summary: An AU where the Mew Project takes place around 8 years later, and Ichigo's relationship with a pre-character development Masaya has left her lonely, isolated, vulnerable, and overwhelmed. Only the power of magic and friendship can save her from this depressing reality!
Relationships: Aizawa Mint/Fujiwara Zakuro, Aoyama Masaya/Momomiya Ichigo, Momomiya Ichigo/Quiche
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Strawberry Chocolate Cake

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure if anyone else is still in this fandom, but I sure as heck am.

The taste was too bitter, she left it sitting for far too long. Ichigo drank it nonetheless, tea is tea, and she’s used to screw ups. She always makes her tea too bitter, so she has a collection of sweet things to douse it in to make it more to her taste: sugar, honey, syrups, and jams. Her collection of local honeys was growing, she knew this because of the bottles, cleaned, emptied, polished and shined sitting on her window sill, filled with dirt and growing blossoming herbs and flowers. She already eats so much sugar that she feels personally responsible for the destruction modern agricultural techniques for growing sugar cane bring to the environment, as well as to the people already living in locations ruined by the farms, the least she could do is support the local beekeepers with her tea, right? 

She added another heaping spoonful of local honey to her cup full of hot, watery, bitter honey. Maybe she should skip the tea and just drink hot water with honey. Sighing, she drank the whole cup in one go, not wasting any while she gagged at the unappetizing brew. If she wants a cup of tea, she’s gonna have to get it elsewhere. The campus cafe is cute, and she thinks less about the impact of her food when she eats out, it’s perfect! Anything to lift her out of this fog. 

* * *

She hasn’t had strawberries in a while, or cake… It’s a cute stylish cafe, it has to have some kind of cake with strawberries, right? And chocolate too, it’s pretty much the only sweet she’s had recently. When she was younger she loved to go to cake buffets and stuff herself with her friends, but she hasn’t seen them in years. Something about eating cake by herself felt too lonely to her, and Masa was too busy overseas to go out with her.

_ But something like that can’t get Ichigo down! With a big smile and the power of her love she can endure anything! _

She’s been in the cafe before with Masa, and one time even bought a quiche to take home for lunch, but she had never eaten there or had a chance to take in the decor. Masa had chuckled before and said that it looked like a little girl’s playset or jewelry box. She was embarrassed to admit that that kind of gaudy, over the top girly and pink look completely fit her taste, and Masa laughed again, smiling that lovely smile and looking at her like she was his world. “Of course you’d like something like that,” he said, and she blushed. She’s a grown woman now, and should have moved on from childish things long ago, but he loved her despite this. She knew no one else would, and it warmed her heart that someone like him accepted her. 

Standing in front of the cafe, she wondered if it was okay to go in alone. Isn’t this the kind of place friends go to chat? Would she draw attention to herself? Spying a decadent chocolate cake topped with strawberries through the window, Ichigo realized that her love for sweets outweighed her social anxiety and calmly walked in. 

A waiter with kind eyes and long brown hair, tied back, directed her to a table by the window. The cafe was mostly empty, unsurprising because other students were probably in classes right now. She should probably be studying too, but right now, cake takes priority! The waiter left her with a menu, but she already knew what cake she wanted. The real decision here was what kind of tea to pair it with. 

* * *

“Is she waiting for someone?” 

“I don’t believe so.”

“What kind of idiot would come to a place like this alone?”

“That's quite a rude question to ask.”

“Isn’t that a dumb thing for her to do?”

Ryou studied the girl, who was analyzing the menu like she was defusing a bomb, completely oblivious to the two men across the room openly discussing her. 

“Has she come here before?”

“Yes, with Aoyama Masaya.”

“Seriously?!” Ryou shouted, taken back, “Him? Did he take pity on her or something?”

“I’ll ask you not to be so loud when we have guests,” Keiichiro glanced at the lonesome girl, who still had a determined look on her face.

“Oh come on, it’s not like she can hear anything we’re saying.”

“...”

“Kay fine,” he took a breath, “I think she might be perfect for our project. If she hangs out with a world renowned environmentalist she must have at least a passing knowledge no matter how clueless she looks, and she doesn’t seem like she has many friends so if anything goes wrong she won’t be missed.”

Keiichiro reluctantly nodded. It’s not that he didn’t take their mission seriously, just that his partner was far too cold about it. 

* * *

“Have you decided on your order?” Keiichiro asks with a smile. Ichigo feels like there was meant to be a “yet” at the end of his question. Was she supposed to call him over when she was ready, or did he come over because he saw her put the menu down? She hasn’t eaten out in a while. There are a ton of social queues she’s forgotten due to lack of practice. 

He’s a really good looking guy, and it’s always beautiful people who are the most judgemental. Not her Masa of course, but other beautiful people, they always hate her. Suddenly she feels like coming here was a mistake, and she should never return again.

The corner of Keiichiro’s mouth twitches, but his smile holds up as he looks down at the wide-eyed girl currently tearing up and clutching the edge of the table. 

“I can come back later if-”

“Wait!”

Her scream echoes throughout the establishment, and she’s taken back by her own actions. O

He keeps facing her with his best customer service smile.   
  
“I-I’ll have the… the chocolate and strawberry cake in the front window, and a mint tea!”

“Wonderful choice, my lady.”   
  
He isn’t sure if her eyes can get much wider. She isn’t sure if that’s how the wait staff at this place addresses people (it is) or if something weird just happened. Something weird other than screaming at a waiter. 

People are always so rude to servers, as someone aware of that she should be so much better than she’s behaving. Now this strangers day is ruined, she’ll end up on a blog about rude customers, she’ll probably end up kicked out of school… no wait, that’s too much. Maybe an employer will find out and fire her for this. But she shouldn’t be worrying about her own well-being, that’s so selfish! What if he cries about this later, or thinks he’s done a bad job? This man has been overwhelmingly pleasant, even to someone like her, and she repays this kindness with shouting. 

He takes her menu and swiftly walks towards the kitchen, and his smiling face shifts to confusion. She snaps out of her spiral to shout “sorry for being rude” . When he gets back to the kitchen, Ryou laughs so loudly when he sees Keiichiro’s face that Ichigo can hear it from the dining area. 

By the time Keiichiro bops his friend on the head to shut him up, Ichigo is vacantly staring out the window and going over everything that went wrong with that interaction. He’s dealt with worse, and if it wasn’t for her potential in their experiment it wouldn’t be a particularly memorable experience, but she doesn’t know this. She’s considering leaving, but god damn it, she wants some tea and cake.

* * *

“I apologize for the wait, we’re rather busy at the moment.”

Obviously they’re not, she’s the only person in the cafe.   
  
“I hope you’ll enjoy your meal.”

Does he think she’s eating cake for a meal? At 4pm? Alone? Yes, college students keep weird schedules, but isn’t this a bit too…? No, no, it’ll do her no good to think like that. Why would this place even be open if they didn’t expect people to come in outside of regular meal times? It’s a cafe, people come in for snacks! And it’s a hang out place too! People come by just to hang out! To study, or chat with their friends… or talk to professors after class… maybe she should stop thinking about this.

She takes a big gulp of her mint tea and instantly burns her mouth. She manages to put the cup on the table before flailing her arms rapidly to fan her mouth. 

From across the room Keiichiro considers bringing her a glass of ice water, but decides it might be more devastating to her if she knows he’d been watching.

The same thought occurs to Ryou, only he decides to bring her the glass. He doesn’t say a word, and slams it on the table without looking at her before disappearing back into the kitchen. She looks like she’s about to cry again, but calls out to thank him anyway.

Now Ichigo is eating her cake at an irregular pace, unable to decide whether to eat it quickly and get out, or to savor every bite because it’s so delicious and she doesn’t know when she’ll ever have the courage to come back. 

She wonders if people have stats, like in video games, and if a certain number of points for each stat is given to each pair of soulmates. That’s why couples always seem to compliment each other, whatever area one has low stats in the other compensates, and when they have average stats they’re the same and they can relate over that. When one has the maximum number of points in a stat, it doesn’t matter if the other has none, because the weaker one can depend on the stronger one. Maybe she can deal with being so bad at school, or so uncharismatic, clumsy, stupid, and graceless if it means that Masa can keep being his wonderful self. Maybe it’s draining her. Of course that’s not it, this must be how she supports him even when they’re far away. The more mistakes she makes, the more embarrassed she is, the more she wants everything to just stop, the better he seems next to her, right? 

But what about those couples that seem so high above everyone else? That are so brilliant that they shine like stars? Of course they still love each other, of course they’re still soulmates, but how can both of them be so amazing? And why can’t she and Masa be like that?

Thinking about these things never makes her happy. Her cake is finished and her tea is tepid. She gulps down the cooled tea, and ice water too for the sake of hydration, and waits for the check. 

Surely they can’t wait for her to leave, or maybe she’s not important enough to register to them anymore and they’re not going to remember she’s been sitting in the cafe until someone else enters. It’s not like she can knock on the kitchen door, so she might be stuck here for a while. She holds her head with both hands and closes her eyes.

Maybe going out was too overwhelming for her, or maybe it’s because of how much she fucked up something as simple as ordering food, but she’s suddenly hit with an intense migraine. Her head falls to the table and she suddenly feels something warm wash over her.

* * *

She wakes up with a yelp. She’s in a bed much softer than her own in the campus’s clinic, which she’d rather not admit how many times she’s been forced to visit.

She yelps again when she sees the angry blonde man from the cafe sitting in a chair at the clinician’s desk. 

“Shut up.”

“What are you doing here?! What am I doing here?! Did you drug me and-”

Ryou grabs her and puts a hand over her mouth.

“I said shut up!”

She continues to ask questions, muffled by his hand but still annoying him to no end.

“You passed out after eating cake, so I brought you here.” 

Her face flushes. Did she eat herself into a coma, with one slice of cake? Or was it the bad tea she drank earlier? While she begins to ask herself an endless barrage of questions she shuts up and stops asking them to Ryou. He takes his hand off her mouth.

Absolutely none of her racing thoughts make it to her mouth and she sits there, mouth open, eyes wide, looking like she’s about to cry.

“Jesus christ…” he puts a palm to his head and hands her a handkerchief, which seems like an act completely lost on her as she sits there, still in shock.

“You  _ take _ it.”

“T-thank you very much!”

“You’re too loud.”

“T-thank you very much,” she whispers.

Ryou glares at her then turns away. 

“Here. Take this.” He hands her a piece of paper.   
  
“You can get a discount at the cafe from now on. Keeichiro told me to give it to you as an apology.”

Ichigo carefully takes the coupon with both hands, and stares at it an awe.

“I appreciate it! Sorry for the trouble!” She quickly bows her head.   
  
“Just take care of yourself.” He sighs and starts walking out.

“Wait! What’s your name?” She calls after him.

“Ryou. Bye.”

“I’m-”   
  
“Ichigo Momomiya. Annoying. I get it.”

He leaves and Ichigo is left sitting in bed at the clinic, ignoring the mortifying ordeal to instead gaze at the world of delicious possibilities offered by the piece of paper before her. Finally an excuse to leave her dorm.


	2. Organic Green Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo just wants to make friends and buy groceries.

For the past week Ichigo’s gone to the cafe to study. More like scroll through social media on her computer while beating herself up internally for not being able to concentrate on her damn work. She’s there for most of the day, only leaving for classes and closing time, but she’s noticed that others do the same. She’s not the only person who comes to these places alone to waste time. 

There’s a girl she’s been seeing here everyday, tall, elegant, with two long braids and the rest of her hair cropped short, neat and orderly. Her preferred table is the one right in front of Ichigo’s, and sits with her back to her, giving Ichigo full view of whatever she’s doing on her laptop. Ichigo’s seen her around campus before, turning heads with her graceful walk and cold, distant, gaze beneath her glasses. She’s always carrying a shoulder bag filled with books, probably an English or History major. 

Ichigo knows her secret though. She’s seen her completely melt in awe over outfits she sees in historic fashion YouTube videos. She’s seen her let out a full range of emotions, almost as melodramatic and over the top as Ichigo herself, while reading books, ranging from classics to best sellers, obscure historic novels to shoujo manga, and various works of nonfiction including fragile looking pamphlets and threadbare books. 

Her fascination with the girl has grown over the course of these days, and every fiber of her being is calling for her to _just go up to her_ and start a conversation, and though once, long ago it seems, she was the type to do such a thing, she knows better now. What if the girl thinks she’s been watching her, or following her? Almost every time Ichigo’s visited the cafe that girl’s been here too, doesn't it kinda seem like she’s stalking her? Plus, if she starts a conversation about that girl’s interests, it’ll be obvious that she _has_ been watching her. 

Ichigo sighs and stirs her tea. Eating at the cafe so often, she hasn’t bought groceries in a while. The cafe will be closed tomorrow, so she’s decided to do some shopping today so she’ll have something to eat. The only issue is that the only grocery store with a decent selection of organic and ethically grown produce is a 2 hour walk away. She should start going soon, but she very much doesn’t want to spend the next 4-5 hours devoted to such a dull task. There’s a grocery store about 10 minutes from campus, as well as one on its premises, but it’s her responsibility to support small businesses that align with her beliefs. Maybe it would be less exhausting if she actually knew the bus schedule, so she wouldn’t have to walk the whole way, but it changes so often and the times vary so much that she can’t find it in herself to put in the effort. 

She drinks the tea, organic green, so saturated with sugar that some of the cubes can no longer dissolve, and gets up. The sun’s going down, and she doesn’t want to be one of those people that go into a store right before closing and holds up the employees. 

When she collects her belongings she looks over at that girl again, with deep green silken hair and cold eyes that mask such inviting warmth. Since the cafe will be closed, they won’t be able to see each other. She’ll miss her, even though it’s likely that that girl doesn’t even know she exists. Next time, Ichigo plans on sitting somewhere else. It won’t do her any good to long for friendships she won’t be able to maintain, that’s why it’s so good that her Masa is fine with her not messaging often, and tends to be the one to initiate things. She should give up before she ruins that girl's opinion of her, which at the moment probably isn’t anything, but at least it’s not negative, or worse, hateful. It would hurt so painfully to be hated by someone you admire. She’s not going to risk it.

Ichigo leaves, wishing Keiichiro goodbye, and feeling tempted to stick out her tongue at Ryou and call him an idiot, says goodbye politely to him as well. Keiichiro returns her farewell graciously, but Ryou scoffs and puffs out his chest. Ichigo returns to her first decision and his face turns bright red, shocked and pissed off, and tries to yell something at her. Lucky for her, the door closes before she can hear it. It feels nice to tease someone, but she fears it may have come across as actual malice. If he seems hurt by it next time they meet she’ll apologize, but it’s most likely that she did it so awkwardly that he was just going to call her uncool for thinking she could pull off normal behavior. She’s overcome by the urge to hide her face.

* * *

Ichigo’s incredibly bored walking to the store. Her headphones play the same music she’s been listening to on repeat for the past few months, and none of the scenery is any different than she’s seen before. Of course, she appreciates the beauty of nature, but she knows that the reason for conservation isn’t just to preserve beauty, but because everything deserves the right to exist and humans are infringing on that by disrupting ecosystems for their own profit. The lawns she passes by fill her with guilt, they take up too much space, too many resources, that a polyculture of native plants would be able to do _so_ much more with. What she’s seeing are just signs of status, that have become the norm in areas inhabited by humans, and most aren’t even aware of their negative effects and just accept it as how things should be, and won’t change their ways even if they’re educated because of how ingrained they are in society. She begins to feel lethargic, and raises the volume of her music to drown out these thoughts.

Suddenly a tree is shaking, harshly, violently. An old tree, with patches of smooth and cracked bark that signal that it’s dying. It should be cut down, so a new tree will grow and any diseases it’s more vulnerable to won’t spread to the healthy ones. She changes her path to avoid the falling leaves. She raises the volume on her music again, she’d rather not think.

Then something falls in front of her. Large, with the long, bottom heavy body of a rodent but too-long arms. On it’s head is a symbol she doesn’t recognize. Looking at it’s head, she _thinks_ it resembles a rat, but whatever it is, it definitely isn’t.

She’s frozen in place. The creature scratches at the ground before flinging dirt her way. Her instinct is to crouch down and cover her head, but suddenly she’s in the air, carried by someone with an arm around her waist, and lands on the branch of the old tree. 

“Ryou!”

“You’re being too loud.”  
  
“What are you doing here?”  
  
“There’s no time for that, transform already!” He shoves a pendant into her hands.

“T-transform?”  
  
“Just do it!”

The pendant starts to glow, she feels a rush of energy come over her, coursing through her, and suddenly she’s floating above the ground having an out of body experience. She’s aware of her clothes, lighter than usual, a fluffy, short skirt springs out from her hips, and snug boots, gloves, and a garter feel like they’ve grown from her skin. She returns to herself and the solidity of the tree branch she stands on, and twitches her ears.  
  
“What are those?! What’s this?! What am I wearing?!” The fur on her tail stands on end.   
“Shut _up_ , just take out the monster.” Ryou pushes her off the branch and she falls down screaming, protecting her head with her hands, waiting for the ground to crush her.

But it doesn’t and she lands on her feet.

“Say “Strawberry Bell”!”

“S-strawberry bell?”

Now there’s a pink, heart shaped frame in her hand with a small bell. She starts to examine it but is interrupted.“Say “Ribbon Strawberry Check”!”

“R-ribbon strawberry check?”

She feels her wrist get pulled by an unseen force, lining the heart-shaped jewel on her glove up with the matching one on the bell, and she rises into the air again, surrounded by a pulsing energy. She isn’t the one doing this, and sits back as her body directs a ray of light at the rat-creature, which screeches and writhes before falling on the ground. Once the energy subsides she floats to the ground again, and she’s able to move on her own. A ghostly jellyfish looking thing floats out of the creature and it shrinks back down to a regular sized rat, which scurries off somewhere. Something important, even powerful happened, but she had nothing to do with it. 

“Good job. You’ll be handling these situations from now on.”

“What are you talking about? What just happened?”

“Not here, I’ll fill you in once we get back. Come on.”

“But I need to get groceries!”

“Do it tomorrow.”

“But-“

“We’re leaving.”


End file.
